The hardest April Fools’ jokes to swallow are those that in fact get our hopes up, just for all of it to return crashing down when truth units in. April Fools’ Day 2024 noticed quite a few engaging pretend bulletins, however there was once one smaller prank nestled some of the giant hitters that stung just a bit bit additional. Developer Inti Creates, recognized for video games like Blaster Grasp 0 and Azure Striker Gunvolt, took to social media that fateful day to unveil Divine Dynamo Flamefrit: an all-new, top-down, action-adventure, dungeon-crawler recreation.
Suffice it to mention, it left moderately the robust impact with its trendy 16-bit graphics, its flashy fight, and, most significantly, its utter devotion to replicating the tacky aesthetic of ’80s and ’90s-era shonen anime. Whilst the trailer was once obviously marked as an April Fools’ Day comic story, that didn’t prevent lovers from letting Inti Creates know that this was once a recreation they sought after to if truth be told play. Thankfully, the developer made it occur. As soon as simply an intricately crafted comic story, Divine Dynamo Flamefrit is now out in an absolutely playable shape — and it’s moderately the stress-free little romp.
If truth be told, Divine Dynamo Flamefrit is if truth be told a spin-off of Inti Creates’ deckbuilding roguelite RPG Card-en-Ciel, which introduced simply weeks prior. Within the universe of that identify, Flamefrit is a a success leisure franchise consisting of a well-liked anime and a number of other tie-in video games — the primary of which is ostensibly the very recreation that we’re reviewing now. That meta component and background context isn’t essential in any respect to experience what Divine Dynamo Flamefrit has to provide, but it surely’s a neat little bit of fanservice that strengthens the sport’s attraction towards any person who has given Card-en-Ciel a cross.
Divine Dynamo Flamefrit places gamers in regulate of Yuto Hino, a heroic younger boy who’s magically transported to the myth international of Hologard and granted the identify of Dynamo Knight. Along with his newfound energy and the assistance of the mech significant other Flamefrit, Yuto embarks on a quest to find his birthday party of allies and defeat the nefarious Archfiend.
If that set-up sounds insanely trope-y to you, it’s doing its task. All the set dressing surrounding Divine Dynamo Flamefrit is a tongue-in-cheek love letter to unfashionable combat and mecha anime (with a hearty dose of old-school RPG taste), and it completely revels in emulating the whole lot from the artwork taste to the insert songs. You’ll be able to be expecting to look all forms of commonplace tropes from the anime of yesteryear pop up, whether or not it’s bickering boy-and-girl partners or the facility of friendship triumphing over evil.
It’s nice, lighthearted stuff, with a tight provide of witty discussion and visible gags that in fact made us giggle on a few events. Greater than the rest, Divine Dynamo Flamefrit seems like a nostalgic hug to any person who grew up gazing the likes of Pokémon, Sailor Moon, or different vintage Saturday morning anime fare.
Past aesthetics, Divine Dynamo Flamefrit helps to keep issues very simple within the gameplay division. The principle mode essentially sees gamers as Yuto progressing via labyrinthine dungeons, the place he should strike down enemies together with his flame sword and achieve the tip of the extent, the place a md combat awaits. It’s an overly conventional and frankly boring dungeon-crawling enjoy, with little to search out past well being and magic refills and keys to open locked doorways. Thankfully, fight itself is enticing sufficient to make up for any deficits in this entrance.
Yuto’s moveset is composed of a sword assault, which may also be pressed in fast succession to accomplish a combo or held right down to unharness a fiery slash, and a roll to dodge incoming assaults. That can sound slightly fundamental, however Divine Dynamo Flamefrit does an admirable task of introducing simply sufficient wrinkles to stay issues attention-grabbing.
For something, finding out enemy assault patterns and when precisely to roll and dodge them is a very powerful to warding off hits, that means that you’ll be able to’t simply blindly run ahead and slash your method to victory. Certainly, there have been a number of occasions over the process our playthrough after we in fact had a tricky time conserving onto sufficient well being to achieve the following checkpoint.
As a counterbalance to the problem, every best friend that Yuto recruits permits him to wield an impressive new assault at the price of a few of his magic provide. Mastering the roll additionally lets you carry out a great dodge, granting a temporary window to hit the enemy’s susceptible level for an ultra-satisfying counterattack.
If we had one or two explicit criticisms to stage at Flamefrit’s fight gadget, the primary could be that it feels only a contact stiffer than we’d want. That mentioned, there’s a case to be made that even this component works in provider of the gameplay, because it forces you to decide to no matter plan of assault you’ll have. We had been additionally disenchanted to search out that Yuto’s talent to defeat chains of enemies by means of burning patches of grass together with his sword, which was once featured within the recreation’s trailers, is sorely underutilised. Sadly, it’s just a mechanic for the primary stage of the sport and not returns afterwards.
After all, Divine Dynamo Flamefrit’s exploration and top-down fight is simply one-half of the enjoy. The actual megastar of the display is the sport’s set of boss battles, which take the type of first-person mech battles. For every boss, you suppose regulate of Flamefrit, aiming and capturing along with your laser cannon whilst concurrently blockading and parrying incoming assaults.
Those encounters are flashy, fast paced, and a ton of a laugh to play. They’re additionally a long way and away essentially the most tough portions of the sport — particularly the overall handful of fights, which provide a significant spike in problem and require lightning-fast reflexes to dodge positive devastating assaults. To position issues in standpoint, our preliminary playthrough of Divine Dynamo Flamefrit took more or less two and a half of hours. About one-third of that point was once spent bashing our heads towards the overall boss. By the point we in any case dealt the completing blow, we had been status up in entrance of our sofa with a sweaty brow and arms sore from button mashing.
And similar to that, it was once over. Divine Dynamo Flamefrit is composed of simply 3 major dungeons unfold throughout a runtime of a couple of hours at maximum. It’s onerous to get round the concept that, for the entire neat little issues it does, Divine Dynamo Flamefrit is extra corresponding to an appetizer than a full-on entree. We don’t in particular thoughts the sport’s smaller scope in principle, seeing because it has an accurately bite-sized ticket to compare. If truth be told, it’s more or less refreshing to play a recreation that helps to keep issues about as quick, candy, and easy because it in all probability can.
Then again, we will’t moderately drown out the voice in our head that desires this little identify was once one thing extra. It has a rock-solid basis, with snappy and attractive gameplay, a really perfect visible taste, and a uniquely nostalgic aptitude, however none of those parts have the essential room to broaden past their most elementary paperwork. The result’s that Divine Dynamo Flamefrit seems like a novelty at first, and a recreation this is a long way from crucial — however, guy, it positive is going down simple.
Conclusion
Divine Dynamo Flamefrit’s Pinnochio-esque adventure from a throwaway web comic story to a full-fledged actual recreation is commendable in itself. Then again, the truth that it’s as stress-free as it’s could also be an excellent sweeter victory. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel the least bit, and its restricted action-adventure recreation mechanics are as regards to as fundamental as they arrive, however the moment-to-moment gameplay is greater than pleasant and flashy sufficient to make up for it. Couple that with a willing sense of humour and a flurry of nostalgic aesthetic callbacks to vintage anime and old-school RPGs, and you’ve got moderately the gem of a identify. Simply attempt to savour the ones fleeting few hours of runtime up to you’ll be able to.
